Swastikas popping up on Montreal streets...

This is a bit worrying...

Trendy Bernard Street, in the Montreal borough of Outremont, has long been symbolic for its Jewish flavour and the presence of a strong Chasidic community whose members live on neighbouring streets. But for more than 50 years, the Jewish-owned Lester’s Deli has been a mainstay at 1057 Bernard. Even its web site (www.lestersdeli.com) features Jewish party music.

Situated right next to Lester’s Deli is a centre of prayer/study belonging to the orthodox Jewish community. On the wall of this building, facing the terrace at Lester’s, a large swastika was spray painted on Aug. 13 and reported to the police. By the time someone alerted the Quebec office of B’nai Brith Canada, the antisemitic symbol had shockingly still not been removed. Last week the Jewish Tribune contacted the local police station and while there was no return phone call, Lester’s Deli owner Billy Berenholc said that a day later the swastika was finally removed – apparently by city workers.

“Being in an area populated by members of the religious Jewish community I have seen antisemitic vandalism here in the past,” Berenholc told the Jewish Tribune between handling a busy summer crowd of customers flowing through his front door. “But that was a long time ago. I thought those days were finished. Really, I think it has been at least 20 years since I saw an antisemitic slogan anywhere close to my restaurant. This one faced my outdoor terrace. I could not look at it. I even took some of the wrapping paper I use for cold cuts and tried to cover this up. Whoever did this is a real low life and I hope they are caught and prosecuted for perpetrating a hate crime.”

As B’nai Brith Canada’s Regional Director Sharon Bitensky noted, this is just one of a number of antisemitic incidents that have been reported to her office in recent weeks. It all began with such daubings in the predominantly Jewish suburbs of Hampstead and Côte Saint-Luc and has now spread.

Not far from Lester’s Deli, a swastika was found behind a Pharmaprix store at the Van Horne Shopping Mall in the Côte-des-Neiges district. The same strip mall has an IGA supermarket with a large kosher section. In NDG a swastika was found on a wooden park bench right in front of the Shaare Zedek Congregation. A swastika was also found on the cement part of a telephone module on Van Horne and Decarie in the Snowdon area, close to a Jewish study/pray centre. In this case, Borough Mayor Michael Applebaum’s office was quick to respond that this would be cleaned up as soon as possible.